The Journal of Decorative and Propaganda Arts 24

Design, Culture, Identity: The Wolfsonian Collection

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Edited by Joel M Hoffman

MIT Press

Due/Published April 2002, 230 pages, paper

ISBN 0963160192

The Journal of Decorative and Propaganda Arts, founded in 1986 and now published by The Wolfsonian-Florida International University, explores themes relating to The Wolfsonian collection and to the visual language of objects. It conveys to readers the power of design and shows how design shapes and reflects human values and experience.

The nine essays in this volume of The Journal of Decorative and Propaganda Arts focus on the collection of The Wolfsonian-Florida International University in Miami Beach, Florida, which includes paintings, furniture, decorative arts, industrial design, and ephemera from 1885 to 1945. The book consists of an analytical overview of the collection by guest editor Joel Hoffman, five essays that explore design and national identity in Europe from 1914 to 1945, and three essays that look at American visual culture in the 1930s. Considering a range of topicsÑ-including the eroticized iconography of male workers in American art, the "Stalin style" in everything from ceramics to public works, and three generations of Hungarian furniture designersÑ-the essays offer a thought-provoking reconsideration of the modern era.